Section 16 Manual

5.14 Form of notification of affected parties.

Unlike section 29, which specifies certain matters which have to be conveyed to the party being consulted, section 34(6) merely requires that the party be notified of the proposal to review the decision of the public body concerned.

5.15 The content of a notice under section 34(6) will vary from case to case. Typically, it should contain the following:

some details of the request made and what records pertaining to the requester were encompassed by the request,
an explanation of how the matter has come before the Commissioner and her role,
some details of the public body's decision, the exemptions relied on and any other relevant exemptions,
an invitation to consent to release (in suitable cases),
an explanation of the Investigator's preliminary view that the material should be released under the Act, and
an invitation to make a submission (which need not be confined to the matters raised by the Investigator) if the party objects to release.

5.16 A copy of each notification should be placed on the file.

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